To hear at least one NHL goalie coach tell it, the New Jersey Devils have gone from one phenomenal, All-World, surefire Hall of Fame goaltender in Martin Brodeur, to another topnotch, "elite" netminder in Cory Schneider, with almost no lag between.
"He's elite," the unnamed goalie coach said of Schneider, via Craig Custance of ESPN. "He proved it under tough circumstances, taking over for someone who was supposed to be the starter in Roberto Luongo, and transitioning from [Martin Brodeur]. He's very, very reliable. Extremely seldom do you see him let in a bad goal. He's an extremely sound, intelligent man. He's also benefited from working with [goalie coach] Chris Terreri."
The Vancouver Canucks' decision to trade away Schneider has been greatly to New Jersey's benefit. Despite backstopping a Devils team that struggled to put up, well, anything offensively most night, Schneider managed high-quality performance after high-quality performance in 2014-15. While his 26-31-9 record would indicate to most that he had tough, if not outright bad season, Schneider actually finished the year with just a 2.26 goals against average and a .925 save percentage.
Schneider, now, 29, entered the league as a first-round pick of the Canucks in 2004, but managed only spot duty through the 2012-13 season. After being dealt to New Jersey, Schneider started 43 games in 2013-14, managing a 1.97 goals against average and a .921 save percentage.
In 30 games of work or less the prior three seasons in Vancouver, Schneider's save percentage never dipped below .927.
In short, Schneider's been consistently posting high-quality numbers for almost six straight NHL seasons now. While the Devils likely won't be contending for a Stanley Cup in 2015-16, it seems fans in New Jersey can rest easy knowing that if Ray Shero is able fix the rest of the team's aging core, Schneider will be there to backstop provide "elite," Cup-worthy play.
